Who should help to save our environment?
Sometime last week, I had a very engaging session with a lecturer on why public education efforts to save and conserve our environment have been in vain. I'm not a hardcore environmentalist who practises environmentally-friendly habits 24/7 (but i do try though), just that in the midst of doing an assignment, it got me thinking more about it. In writing to address the lack of civic-mindedness in most people here pertaining to environment issues, I attempted to come up with a few solutions for further action. Through the discussion with the lecturer, we agreed that there is a lack of pro-environmentalism culture here. It seems that most recycling efforts are currently carried out by organisations as they're awarded certain incentives to promote recycling efforts. In households or amongst the public, recycling is usually done on a voluntary/ad-hoc basis. Volunteers may advocate such practices, but in most cases, such practices usually fade away after awhile. In my assignment, I elaborated mainly on the need for more public education and incentives to go hand in hand together. I felt that the relevant authorities should be aware of this problem and hence should be in the midst of planning better activities. Although the lecturer pointed the lack of action (from the authorities) to apparent economic uselessness (no urgency at the moment) of advocating environmentalism, I was pretty skeptical at that suggestion. Ideally, I thought the problem is serious enough to warrant any little action, why would there be room for such considerations, especially when it doesn't take much to educate the public?? At the end of the assignment though, I have to agree he's right to a certain extent.
I wrote a letter of complaint to one of the relevant authorities, but all I got was a reply that repeated what I already mentioned without addressing my concerns. -_- Given that we're rather dependent on the State to pull us towards Speaking good english, Giving good service, speaking mandarin and what not, shouldn't they take this issue into consideration first? As public education in environmentalism has indeed increased, the state's influence (I believe) would be stronger if executed frequently. But I'm being brushed aside in a certain way. Suddenly I feel a little smaller.
I am a student currently studying at a local tertiary institution. I am writing to express my views on the excessive use of plastic bags in Singapore. While it is heartening to note that the National Environment Agency has taken great measures to educate the public on the need to decrease their use of plastic bags by collaborating with major retailers and supermarkets, it seems that these efforts have yet to bear significant rewards.
The circulation of plastic bags poses a redundant problem that can be easily avoided in the first place. Plastic bags if left on its own does not degrade, and they harm the environment when incinerated, producing toxic fumes in the process. In addition, plastic litter travels miles across oceans only to end up in the food chains of animals. Plastic bags are ubiquitous items in modern society. However, production of plastic bags beyond what is necessary simply exhausts our earth’s resources quickly while contributing to global warming in the production process. The impact of a simple product’s existence cannot be underestimated. Hence, public education has to be an ongoing process to continually remind people of this.
Despite campaigns with retailers going back to as far as 2002, it seems that the inherent mindset of Singaporeans remain unchanged to result in a conscious effort to use reusable bags, or inform the cashier to provide less plastic bags. Many simply do not bother, and fall back to old habits quickly. While I hope that NEA has in place additional measures to counter this, I would also like to propose a few possible solutions for NEA to look into.
1. Replace a periodical campaign with an ongoing practice to encourage shoppers to use reusable plastic bags
As it is difficult to remember to do our part for the environment in the haste of everyday life, there has to be constant reminders for shoppers and retailers to be conscious of doing their part for the environment by a simple act alone. Through the use of labels and advertisements in places such as cashier points of supermarkets, both cashiers and shoppers will be constantly reminded to persist in this valuable habit, thus hopefully bringing about a collective mindset change in the future.
2. Continue collaborating with supermarkets and encourage them to reward shoppers consistently (This can be done in the form of rebates or discounts)
Rather than impose sanctions on customers who use excessive plastic bags, it would be more effective to provide attractive rewards for customers who make the effort to care for the environment. As discounts would be likely to decrease retailers’ profits, the losses would not be that significant if planned properly. For example, retailers could provide shoppers with discounts off grocery purchases when shoppers use reusable plastic bags on 10 consecutive occasions (this can be tracked by providing a discount card for collection of “tokens”).
3. Inform the public on the results of their efforts
In most cases, people seem unaware that their efforts are reaping rewards. By informing the public on these results by publicly announcing certain aspects of the National Environment Agency’s annual report to citizens (eg. through the media), this will instill in them a sense of pride for contributing towards a cleaner environment. At the same time, a more considerate and civic-minded society will result in the long run.
Saving the environment is an ongoing effort that everyone has to do their part in. I hope that NEA will continue to educate the public aggressively on the urgency of this need and let us work together for a better world. At present, I am rather disappointed with the ineffectiveness of these campaigns and I hope that NEA will continue to look into this issue further. Particularly, I am interested to know the additional measures that NEA has in place to solve this problem. I look forward to hearing from you soon, thank you.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestions on reducing the usage of plastic bags, and happy new year to you, too.
A working group comprising the major supermarket chains, Singapore Environment Council had launched a "Why waste plastic bags? Use reusable bags!” campaign on 11 Feb 06. The aim of the on-going campaign is to educate shoppers to reduce the use of plastic bags, and switch to the use of reusable bags.
During the launch period, and on important environmental days such as Earth Day, World Environment Day, etc., the participating stores had taken various initiatives such as conducting lucky draws, giving away tokens to shoppers to encourage them reducing the use of plastic bags and switching to reusable bags.
Last Nov, NEA, Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and participating supermarkets collaborated to organise a “Spot the Green Shoppers” Contest over the weekend 18-19 Nov 06. Retailers sponsored shopping vouchers for rewarding shoppers who were spotted (by SEC volunteers) using reusable bags to bag their purchases.
We will consider your suggestions in our continuing efforts.
Thank you for your interest and suggestion.